Lower cash donation limit won't affect BSP: MP

The government decision to lower the limit of cash donations to political parties to Rs 2,000 won't affect the BSP, its MP Veer Singh said on Wednesday.

"Most of our funds come from very small donors from across the country. Our party has membership a fee of only Rs 50 and most of our funding comes in 50 and 100 rupee notes," Singh told IANS.

"Our community is not very rich. They cannot donate large sums of money. But our strength is in numbers. We have crores of members who donate small sums to our party," he added. "So the decision won't affect us at all."

The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) says that Bahujan Samaj Party is the only party to consistently declare receiving no donations above Rs 20,000 in 2004-05 and 2014-15.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced on Wednesday that the maximum cash donation by an individual to a political party could be Rs 2,000 -- a sharp drop from the existing Rs 20,000.

--IANS

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